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I've not got much of the season left, but had a quick google of Casa Pia as I knew that I recognized it from somewhere and the first thing that comes up is that horrific child sex abuse scandal from a few years ago in Portugal, basically Casa Pia is a state-run institution that supports education for poor orphans and there was a scandal that discovered over 100 boys and girls, some of them deaf and/or mute, had been sexually abused over the last few decades. It was a pretty interesting read but does go to show that there are some sick sick people in the world. This confused me as I assumed Casa Pia to be a town, village or city but it's actually a club based in Lisbon that was named after that institution when formed in 1920, the stadium 'Estadio Pina Manique' was named after the original organiser of the charity - Pina Manique, who was a Portuguese magistrate in the 1700's. The club itself has a reasonably interesting history, despite seemingly never achieved any real domestic success, they had 4 players in the first ever Portuguese international game, including the captain - Candido de Oliveira.

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GL in Portugal. They look massive budgets for the division. I had about 4 seasons in 2nd Division North and didn't have a penny to spend. Should get some very good players with the finances you have available there

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Progressing nicely and a nice idea for a challenge . Probably not the first thing you want to be associated with at your new club so maybe a few titles to build up a rivalry with Sporting Lisbon?

I don't think I'll be around long enough to form a rivalry with Sporting Lisbon, but I would like to get them promoted to the 2nd tier

GL in Portugal. They look massive budgets for the division. I had about 4 seasons in 2nd Division North and didn't have a penny to spend. Should get some very good players with the finances you have available there

I did think it was a pretty big budget considering they were only 3rd tier in Portugal. I was so surprised when I looked and saw there was over 100K transfer budget, was expecting about 10K maximum!

Great concept, but a couple of questions:

1) If you're only at a club for six months and a team with the next letter approaches you, do you have to turn them down until you've done your 12 months?

2) Are you going to accept international offers while still getting from A-Z and, if so, do they need to be in alphabetical order?

1. Yeah, minimum requirement of 365 days at each letter. If I get sacked I'll take over at another club at that letter, but can combine the days together so the second club I wont need 365 days if you know what I mean.

2. International sides will count as a letter, so for example if I was at Arsenal and had spent at least 365 days there, and Botswana came calling for me to be their new manager, then 365 days as Botswana manager would count as my 'B' side.

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After joining in November it became obvious very quickly that aside from a few, the team was in disarray. For about a month and a half I had to play players out of position, youth players that were terrible, and generally lose matches because of this. There was no recognized right back or left back at the club aside from a couple of youth players that barely had 1* of current ability between them. This lead to us achieving 2 points from a possible 18, 2 draws out of 6 games, which for a club fighting relegation and a new manager, was extremely poor form. However, with the money available I was able to snap up some good quality players and rescue the side. After January, I lead the club to 38 points out of 45, winning 12 games and drawing 2, out of 15 games in total, an incredible feat for a club that had been fighting relegation. The division is quite tight as we finished 9 points off top yet still only managed to finish 8th, which made the incredible run after January seem a bit 'meh' really. However it was still a relatively successful season and I definitely believe this squad is more than capable of finishing the league next year as champions and competing in the promotion play-off, we're definitely the team to beat next year in my opinion.

Santa Clara ended up winning the league. The squad ended up looking like this, I played a 4-1-3-2 formation after January with two wide players, a central midfielder at MLC and a DMRC and it was very effective. A total of 35k was spent on the club's transfers, doesn't seem like much with the budget I had but take into account I changed wage budget so spent more than it seems technically. This is a list of the fixtures since I took over. Now I'll talk about the key players. Pedro Freitas was first choice in goal after January and generally did a good job keeping 5 clean sheets in 13 games. Tiago was a fantastic Brazilian left back who ended up winning the fans player of the year award. Jaime Oliveira was a versatile defender/midfielder who did well once signed, he was our defensive midfielder and did a good job. Carlitos aside from having one of the coolest names going (no pun intended if you get the reference) was primarily played on the right side of midfield and was quite good there. The loan signing, Augusto Dias, who was there when I arrived mainly played in the central midfield role but also occasionally filled in at DM, he was one of the best non-post January players. Antonio Mendes was another pre-January player and he was the top scorer when I arrived, he was decent enough to not warrant replacement and generally was a good player to have in the team. Christophe Caseiro, despite not having the best stats, was a truly quality player at this level, able to play on the left of midfield where he was deadly due to his pace, but also adapt at playing up-front, he had a great season and won goal of the season after going on a Thierry Henry against Spurs esque run from the middle of our half, taking on what seemed like the other team's entire midfield and defence before thumping it home to win us the game. So yeah, I can see next year being my last season at Casa Pia as I have no real long term ambition at the club, but I am really hoping I can get them promoted in my first full and last season at the club.

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It's been an eventful season so far in my first and potentially last full season at Casa Pia. My aim for this season has always been to challenge for promotion because I know the squad is definitely capable of doing so, after the impressive run of form at the end of last season. I didn't make any drastic changes to the squad in the transfer market but I did make a few signings and releases, but I'll cover those in more depth in the final update of the season. I'll talk about our short run in the Portuguese Cup first. We drew Joane in the first round, a non-league side who we battered 6-0 at home. In the next round we faced Sporting Pombal, I can't remember if they were at the same level us we are or not but we beat them 3-0 regardless. Then we were drawn against Fafa, a side I am vaguely familiar with as I remember one of the guys in the small club big euro nation challenge turning them into world beaters, they were at the same level us we are in a different regional league, it was tough playing away to them and we ultimately lost 1-0 which was quite disappointing. But let's look at the league as that is the most important competition. In a really confusing move that I didn't even notice until the last few games of the season, we've actually been moved to the Portuguese 2nd Div 'Central' regional league rather than the 'South' league we were in last year. Anyway, the league we are in at times is a ridiculously open one and half-way through the season it looked like any one of the top 11 sides could win the division, with a mere 10 point gap separating 11 sides -

I was relatively happy with third at this stage in the season as all we needed to do was to go on a good run of form and we could easily top the league, however there's always the fear you'll draw a few games and lose one and then you could be as low as 10th before you know it. It was important to make sure we didn't get complacent and I am pleased to say that my side had the best defensive record amongst anyone else in the league. As the season went on a number of teams drifted away from being in with a chance of winning the league, Juventude de Evora are a clear example of this, they seemed to be like the marathon runner who sets the pace for the first half of the race but then ends up falling behind the pack and not even coming in the top 3. Below is a screenshot of what the league looks like with just one game remaining. Before I show you I will just say that the winner of the league qualifies for a 4 game play-off group with the two other regional league winners, the two teams that end up with the most points out of these 4 games than receive promotion to the Liga Vitalis.

As you can see it is ridiculously close going into the last game of the season. Despite being ahead of Marinhense by basis of head-to-head results, AC.Viseu are also still in with a chance if the two of us lose our last game and they win their one. It is essentially between us and Marinhense though. We have a home game against 7th place Oriental, as opposed to Marinhense who face B.C Branco away, B.C Branco currently sit in 14th place and have to win if they are to stay up. AC Viseu face 8th place Caldas SC at home. I'm quite nervous as I know Oriental are a decent side, in theory we have to win as you wouldn't bet against Marinhense losing to a relegation candidate, although since they are playing for survival they will have to go all out for a win which could come in very handy. I don't want to write off AC Viseu either as they could very easily win their game and in the unlikely circumstance both us and Marinhense lose then they could go up themselves. It's definitely going to be a game full of nail-biting!

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This isn't going to be a particularly long update, I haven't had my computer for around a week or something so I just want to get straight back into playing the game instead of looking back and doing in-depth analysis of the season. However, at the start of the season I knew the team were good enough to get promoted after our success in the second half of last season, it was only a matter of whether or not they'd perform when it mattered. They did, as you've already seen, and we reached the promotion play-off. The top two teams from the four games played are promoted to the second tier of Portuguese football. We didn't actually win any of these four games, drawing every single one of them, only scoring and conceding one goal in the process. This was thankfully enough to see us promoted as Trofense ended up with just three points, one less than our four point total. Next season Casa Pia will be playing in the Liga Vitalis, Portugal's 2nd tier, a great achievement for a side that were on the verge of relegation when I joined. I resigned shortly after promotion and winning the manager of the year award. It took me a few months to find a new job but I have been appointed at a 'D' club who are in a country that I have previously managed in. England? Northern Ireland? Portugal? I'll let you guys guess for now.

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Back in Northern Ireland to prove myself as I didn't really achieve anything last time at Annagh. Slight controversy with the name, however Distillery appear as Distillery in the job centre and despite technically now being 'Lisburn' Distillery, i'm taking them as my 'D' side. It's November 23rd, 10 games in with 16 left, interesting fact, I joined on the same date in November as I joined Casa Pia two years ago. Finances look horrible, bottom of the 1st Division and it's a

after all - Emmet Templeton, an old player from my time at Bradford Park Avenue currently players for Distillery. After a poor time at Annagh, I've since rectified my reputation by turning relegation candidates in the English conference and Portuguese third tier into league winners, earning three promotions in the process, can it be achieved at Distillery?

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I'll probably do what I've been doing so far and just go for the first club available, but Zenit are the most attractive 'Z' option at this point, only other teams iirc are Zaragoza, a couple of third tier Spanish sides and a second tier Turkish side. In other news, Emmet Templeton just secured the club's first league win of the year with a late penalty for it to finish 1-0!

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When I joined Distillery they were in pretty bad shape - 10 games in and no wins in the league. I had 16 games to avoid relegation to the 2nd Division, something which is pretty unthinkable for a club that's been used to top flight football for a long time. After picking up a good run of form I managed to take Distillery clear of relegation, finishing in 10th. The squad was relatively decent and by the end of the season we had a side good enough to challenge for promotion, at one point we won 6 games in a row and looked unstoppable. A lot of players came in and out during the season, all of the transfers were either releases or players bought in on a free as finances are pretty terrible. Tony Dunkley who played at right back and on the right side of midfield was a key player, unfortunately he didn't want to renew his contract and will be playing for Chester next season, he'll definitely be difficult to replace. Aidan Downes, was our top scorer with 14 goals in 34 games, generally played up-front but could be played on the right of midfield if necessary. Despite retiring at the end of this season, 37 year old Adam Bolder was a big player for the team in the middle of midfield, he'll also be missed next season. Joe Preston scored some important goals, only 6 in total throughout the season but the majority won important games whilst I was in charge. Finally, a shout out to Emmet Templeton, the guy I managed from Bradford Park Avenue, didn't score or assist but was a good player to have whether starting or coming on as a sub. His only goal came in a 1-0 in my first win in charge that kicked off our good run of form/bid to avoid relegation. I'll be staying at Distillery until the end of next season, I hope to challenge for promotion but with financial restrictions and a lot of players to replace due to contracts being rejected/retirement etc it will be no easy challenge.

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Anyone doubting the game's ability to throw up extremely random events, check out this year's Champions League runners up.

World Cup 2018 Round-Up

Group A

1. Scotland

2. Czech Republic

3. Uruguay

4. Ivory Coast

Group B

1. Portugal

2. Ukraine

3. Nigeria

4. Japan

Group C

1. Italy

2. Mexico

3. Peru

4. Turkey

Group D

1. Brazil

2. South Korea

3. Romania

4. Jamaica

Group E

1. Argentina

2. Spain

3. Iran

3. USA

Group F

1. Wales

2. Saudi Arabia

3. Germany

4. Cameroon

* - Saudi Arabia have now met Germany at all 3 of the in-game World Cup's, they've beaten them twice and drawn the other game they played. They've also knocked them out once and contributed to them going out in this World Cup. Germany's bogey team after their 2002 victory?

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It turns out in 2011 they had a tycoon takeover, hired Darren Ferguson, lost twice in play-off's before winning the Championship in 2012/13. They finished 15th in 2013/14 and since then have floated in and around the top 10, finishing 4th in 2016/17 thus qualifying for the Champions League. It looks like the Champions League run took its toll on them as they only finished 11th. It should be interesting to see if the Champions League money can launch them into a top four club in the long run though!

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It is looking like it will be England or maybe back to Portugal as there aren't any 'E' sides in Northern Ireland. The majority of 'E' clubs in the lower leagues in England are stable or secure, and have been for some time, the only exception being Eastbourne Boro, who have become incredibly annoying as they've been on and off between insecure and very insecure for around 6 months now. I've genuinely lost count of the amount of times I have expressed interest in the job only to be dubbed at having an 'outside' chance at getting the job.

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FINALLY... after spending over a year in-game time and what seems like hours of real time (I've probably spent more time looking for a job in this save game in the last 24 hours than the average unemployed person has spent looking for a real job) I have finally got my 'E' side. I was so relieved about actually getting a job after the boredom of constantly scrolling down the job centre hoping to find 'E' sides insecure, that it didn't matter to me that the team is so poor that taking over at the club is actually the equivalent of starting one of the 'small club to big club' challenges. This process has genuinely made me sympathise with an unemployed person looking for a job on-line in a really really picky manner.

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Since I joined in early May, I only had one game to manage before the end of the season. The said game was an away trip to Albion Rovers, which ended all square at 0-0 making me undefeated in my first season at the club. This meant that the club finished bottom of the league, this must have been very disappointing for East Fife fans, as they finished bottom of the Scottish 2nd Division just last season to get relegated into this division. It will be a tough task to renew a positive atmosphere at the club and take them forward, but one positive is the fact that we literally can't finish any lower next season. My first test in managing in the Scottish leagues will certainly be a challenging one!